


Reflections

by Ophelia_Black



Series: Midlink Week 2020 [2]
Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen, Mute Link (Legend of Zelda), midlink week 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-16
Updated: 2020-04-16
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:54:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23676451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ophelia_Black/pseuds/Ophelia_Black
Summary: At last, Midna finds what she had been looking for, but is it what she wanted?Written for Midlink Week 2020. Prompt: Found
Relationships: Link & Midna (Legend of Zelda)
Series: Midlink Week 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1704871
Kudos: 18





	Reflections

“Link, you did it! It’s the fourth shard! Now we have them all!”

She feels as though she might vibrate out of her skin with excitement, but her movements are slow and gentle as she places the three fragments of the Mirror of Twilight on the grass, where they come closer to the full circle than she ever thought possible. Midna handles the pieces with a held breath, like a parent looking upon a newborn child; just as delicate and reverent, just as hopeful and proud. “We – we’ve actually done it, Link.” A giggle escapes her, breathless with a rush of giddiness she hadn’t felt in a long, long time. “We’ve found them, we’ve got the whole Mirror now!”

For all the pain it had caused, she’s certain it must be the most beautiful thing in the world, in any world. The flawless surface gleams in the sun, the facets of the etched runes catching the light and shimmering like the ruffled surface of Lake Hylia. It draws her forward, and Midna feels as though she could stare into it forever.

_You will have to destroy it, once this is all over. When the time comes to leave Hyrule forever, you have to break it so that it cannot be repaired. Do not neglect your duty._ She turns away as though struck, unable to bear the thought of removing such beauty from the world.

A cloud of dust rises beside her as Link flops to the ground, panting heavily from his battle but aglow with satisfaction all the same. He gestures to the Mirror. ‘You’re going home.’

“I’m going home,” she repeats, voice hardly more than a whisper, as though declaring it too loudly might invite every deity or demon from this realm or the next to come prove her wrong yet again.

She leans back, raising her head to the boundless, dizzying blue sky that engulfs them, her fingers tangled in long green grass. In the endless months of exile, the sight had grown nearly as natural as the red skies and obsidian terrain of the Twilight Realm. _I wonder if I’ll miss Hyrule, when I’m gone._ Midna hadn’t paused to imagine it before, couldn’t allow herself to imagine it, to truly and wholeheartedly embrace the notion that she would ever return home. If she had… if she truly believed it… The pain of losing that belief would be too much to bear, of that she was certain.

And yet….

Heinous and merciless as it was, the sun of Hyrule managed to see itself out every night, and aren’t those precious minutes of twilight the sweetest she had ever tasted? She could get used to it, perhaps, so long as she still had Link’s smile and Zelda’s light to warm her, right? If her plans are dashed yet again, perhaps there could be a life for her here, not as the ruler of shadows but as… something. She could become something else, couldn’t she? Something simpler, a life where the fate of a realm didn’t lie in the useless claws of an imp.

Midna looks at the Mirror again, and damn if the Mirror doesn’t look back.

She had watched its dark magic sprawl and twist its way through the world of light, had seen its evil empower ever mightier foes to challenge the boy who remains her first, last, and only hope. It possessed only the power to repel and corrupt, it was an instrument of damnation, so why did it draw her in now? It shouldn’t be calling to her, this harsh magic, as persuasive and enticing as a lover. _Haven’t you run far enough, princess? Haven’t you hidden long enough? It’s time to come home, to take your place._ The reflection of her face distorts before her eyes until a different woman gazes back, not the face under the mask but her true face, a woman with long, slender limbs and laughing eyes brimming with the confidence that Midna had taken to wearing like a shield when she could no longer feel it within.

A motion in the corner of her eye allows her to tear away from the Mirror, and she does so at once, awash with gratitude, and the other Midna vanishes. Link rises to his feet once more, rolling and stretching out his shoulders with a grimace. When he looks at Midna, however, his gaze is soft and his smile wide. ‘I think it’s time to go. We have unfinished business with Zant.’ He holds out a hand to her. She looks back at the Mirror, wary, but it glints innocently in the grass, its ensnaring spell temporarily broken.

“…Yeah, it is.” She takes Link’s hand, and he beams. “I’m going home. Nothing’s going to get in our way.”


End file.
